what now?
by ShizzySavage16
Summary: (Completely inspired from the ‘Overwatch Vs TF2 [SFM]’ animation!) Both Scout and Tracer were quick and lethal individuals when pitted up against the normal person, but when facing against each other, one seemed to have the slight advantage over the other... the duel ended with one death originally, but what if it could be avoided? What if the triggers weren’t pulled? (Mild L/G)
1. Let’s Talk

**Took a while, but here's a fic that was inspired off the masterpiece of the SFM, 'Overwatch vs TF2 [SFM]' — A piece of some epic animation that was r****eleased _just_ over a year ago that featured a battle between Scout and Tracer (my fav ship). **

**Sorry for the spoilers, but Tracer ends up winning by popping him in the face... but, _what if things went down differently?_**

**_What if Tracer spared him instead of outright killing him?_**

**_What could possibly go on between the two runners?_**

**_(Before reading, I REALLY recommend you all to go and watch the video mentioned above, just so you guys can have some context on this story's background, but no worries if you've already watched it!)_**

**_Also, big thanks to 'The Winglet' for making such a beautiful animation._**

**_X_**

A warm, humid day in the lands of New Mexico. The sun was shining down on the establishment of Mann. Co fiercely, mostly because of the battle that was currently ensuing on the grounds. A time anomaly caused a wave of individuals from the future to arrive straight into Mann. Co territory, land that the RED mercenaries were tasked to defend with their lives.

_One of the mercenaries was pitted up against the invading individuals... it was a mirror match of some sorts, because she too fought with frightening speed and utilized lethal technology..._

Scout was trained though.

Even though the woman's unpredictable patterns were threatening to overwhelm him, he had an array of skills that he could always back up on if his life was in danger... _even if the skill was being an excellent batter in baseball..._

**_x_**

Scout took a sharp breath as he stared at the woman's exploded limb. Her arm had been blown off by the unknown explosive.

He's seen this situation many times, too many times, actually. She'd bleed out in no time, and with no medical equipment or wraps to stop the blood from flowing out of her, she'd be wasted pretty soon.

He'd have to add this kill to his scrapbook. Killing someone from the future with their _own_ bomb on a home-run strike? He wouldn't have dreamed of doing this!

But suddenly, as Scout was in the midst of recollecting himself, he heard a series of high pitched _zips_ and flashes of blue... _it was coming from the woman's body..._

_The blood that burst out from her arm went back into place, the streams of crimson going back into her in the pattern of waves... and her body as a whole was... rewinding?_

_"What the...?"_

Scout stood frozen as he stared at the phenomenon. The woman's arm seemed to reattach itself as if the bomb never hit her. Her whole body was ridden of blood as quick flashes of teal emanated around her figure, and before he knew it...

_She was right in front of him._

The woman was completely unscathed, save for the sand that was scattered across her leggings. Her pistols were pointed straight at him, and he was left with a hung jaw.

_"Unfair!"_ Scout scowled out, the only word that could come to mind.

Scout should've expected this. He should've seen this coming. He didn't know why thought. But, it was too late to do anything about it. Those odd weapons of her's held him at point blank range... and she didn't seem like the type to fall for his embarrassing sweet-talk 'skills'...

_He knew that the device on her chest was there for more than her advantageous teleportation... it was her very own lifesaver; a crutch for her mistakes._

The woman pointed her futuristic pistols upon the cheeks of a very irritated Scout, an annoying smirk on her *_annoying*_ face.

"Any last words, luv'?" The woman asked.

An annoying English tone to go along with her high-pitched voice.

_Great._

"Yeah. That thing on ya chest is annoying, ya know that?" He muttered scornfully, not even having to think of the words.

_He closed his eyes and prepared for his death, which was to be had at the hands of some British girl from the future._

_What a way to go out._

The woman raised her brows curiously, her smirk ever-growing.

"I'm afraid that's a waste of last words. I refuse to rid of someone without them having a decent parting from life." She said.

Scout opened his eyes, oddly finding himself _irritated_ that she refused to finish the job.

"What...?" His face beckoned for an explanation.

"What the hell are ya? A _priest?_ Just pull the damn triggers and be done with it!"

She laughed, which _annoyed_ him even more.

"Silly request!" She chirped out, "I will do no such thing!" She then held a finger up at him, "Oi! And I am _not_ a priest! I am simply an agent of Overwatch that rids the scum of the world."

Scout let out a sigh. From the way things were going with her, he wasn't going to meet his death in at least 1 minute... still, he wasn't about to get his hopes up because of the woman's chatty nature... _which was odd of him_ because he was usually optimistic about anything, including dire situations like this.

"'Scum', huh?" He quoted her.

She nodded, that _smirk_ still on her face.

_"Yup."_

He raised a brow, "You almost got it right... _almost,"_ he repeated. "Can I explain it, or are you gonna shoot me?"

"Now why would I ever do such a thing?" She asked him. Funny enough, her pistols were still pointed at him, so the question was proving to be rhetorical already.

"Dumb question, but y'know what? I'll answer it. Just cause I don't got anything better to do."

She tilted his head at him, her smirk painfully quirky.

_"You're wrong,"_

The woman flicked her hands back, and in a quick second, the pistols found their way in the small holsters that were attached to wrists.

_"I think we can pass the time plenty with tons of stuff to talk about - starting with introductions first."_ She extended a hand towards him, "Name's Lena. Lena Oxton! Also known as 'Tracer'! Overwatch's finest pilot!" She said cheerfully.

She paused, smiling at the corner of her lips, _"Err... at least, back in the days I was. _I'm unsure about today's pilots and their skill sets... _but_ I am fairly positive that I'm at _least_ in the top five of operating airborne vehicles!"

The woman... _Lena,_ stood in place, still holding her extended hand towards him, not finding her excessive chatter weird in any way.

Scout didn't know whether to make a dash for his weapons, or to take up on her merciful offer... _for a temporary truce, or a permanent one?_

And if it was going to be temporary, how long would it last?

"... Name's Scout." He revealed, eyeing her extended hand.

She raised a brow, _"Is that your real name?"_

"Yeah." He lied.

She giggled at him, "That lie was about as good as your handshaking skills - which are both proving to be awful right now..." she cleared her throat obliviously and lingered her eyes on her extended hand - _which was still beckoning for his handshake._

Oddly enough, he smiled at the sound of her giggle. It's been many years since he's heard the sound of a woman's laughter. Miss Pauling was too stuck up to let out a smidge of joy, and The Administrator (His boss) _cackled_ instead of laughing.

It felt refreshing to hear such a lively giggle from a woman... a soft one as well.

_"Okay fine, fine, ya caught me."_ He extended his hand towards her's and grasped it firmly.

_"Name's Scout."_ He smirked, shaking her hand while keeping his eyes trained on her's.

Almost immediately, an even more joyous giggle came out from her. It wasn't sarcastic, nor fake, but true and genuine.

_"Haha! Sod it, I'll just call you 'Scout' since you're so persistent about it!"_

She shook his hand... for a suspicious amount of time until he began to refrain his hand away from her's.

He gave her a short chuckle in return.

_"Hah. _But all funny business out - Name's Jeremy," he revealed, "Cool meeting you, Lena."

Those last 3 words of his sentence he never would've expected to say to her, simply because he thought that she was going to kill him instead. Who would willingly greet their killer with nice words?

"Nice meeting you too, Jeremy." She coughed and smiled at him.

He noticed her smile.

_'What a nice smile.'_ He thought to himself. Of course, he thought that she was **cute** as soon as he engaged a duel with her. He had a thing for pretty girls that knew how to be lethal (which explained the crush he developed on Miss Pauling), and he also had a taste for girls with attractive eyes.

The only downside he could possibly think she had was the silly hairstyle she sported, as well as her high-pitched British accent... not to say he didn't like girls with short hair, or girls with a cheery English accent, but the hair of a woman looking presentable mattered a lot to him... and it wasn't like it was the end of the world for him if a girl had an English accent, but the fact that her voice reminded him of Sniper's...

_He shuddered at the thought._

But other than those downsides, Lena was... as Scout would say — _'Kinda gorgeous.'_

So when he noticed that her attractive smile was pointed at him, he couldn't help but question it publicly.

He smiled in return, "What're you smiling 'bout?"

"Oh, nothing much..." she met his eyes, "you just seem like a _funny guy. Like you belong in one of those stand-up shows."_ She said.

"Are you saying I'm a clown?" He asked, his smile growing.

_"Goodness, no. I hate clowns."_ She shuddered and shook her head, "No, I'm saying the way that you present yourself is such a contrast to your actual profession, which I assume is mercenary work?"

"How'd ya know that?"

"It was a dead giveaway if we're being honest." She began to list off the things that made his job obvious.

"First of all, there is a clear lack of professional clothing, with your baggy pants, and your plain t-shirt. Nonsense like that wouldn't last with official troublers. Secondly, there is _absolutely no reason why you and your colleagues would be defending this barren piece of land if somebody wasn't paying you. And I also see no sign of a professional hierarchy that most troublemaking groups have; everyone of your mates seems to be out for a skirmish with anyone that doesn't look familiar; a very rambo-esque action."_

Scout agreed with everything she said because it was all true.

"And all this evidence leads me to believe that you're a mercenary; people who do work - no matter what it is - just for some money... is that correct?"

"Yeah..."

_"Hm..."_ she crossed her arms and gave out a disgruntled sigh, _"it always has to be the most unexpected people that work jobs like this."_

He lowered a brow, _"Why? I don't look like a killa'?"_

"What-?! No! You don't! You look like someone that's _better_ than a mercenary, someone that actually has _time for others, and-!" _She paused suddenly. Her face lowered and her mouth dropped to a frown for a quick second. She quickly replaced it with a fake smile, _"Sorry. My mistake for rambling, but I do it sometimes." _She shrugged and gave him an innocent look,_ "Can't help it, I guess. It's impulsive."_

"Uhh... I dunno what that word means-"

"Comes our randomly, and when it does - I can't stop myself from saying it."

"Woah..." a thoughtful look came across his face, _"cool!_ So that's gotta be me every time someone says their faster than me," he let out a fake cough, whispering to her, _"I'm pretty fast y'know. Like, faster than fast. Faster than light! Faster than you, probably!"_

_"Haha,"_ she gave him a challenging smirk, _"you seem like a very funny boy."_

"And you seem like a funny girl." He returned.

Both of them shared a laugh before returning to the conversation. Lena decided to ask the question that she was originally supposed to answer.

"Mm.. giggles aside, luv'. Are you part of the world's never-ending scum?" She asked, "Because if you belong to the bad bunch of mercs, then I'm afraid that I've been wasting precious time talking with you instead of getting rid of you - which is my _job_ after all."

Scout raised a brow.

"Well, _Miss Goodie Two-Shoes,_ like I told ya earlier - you kinda got it right." He then began to explain himself, "I'm sorta, _kinda_ a piece of scum, but that's only cause my job needs that from me. Besides, me and my boys don't feel too bad about wasting some people on the other team, cause their tryna kill us too, y'know?"

"No innocents involved?"

"'Course not. We ain't murdering anybody but the other team."

"Who's this _other_ team?" She asked suddenly, "As far as I know, the only tangos my partners and I have seen are your other friends in red." She said.

"Ah, but I forgot to mention that us RED boys were supposed to be fighting a couple BLU boys, but when you and your... _people,_ came rushing out the gates back there, me and the guys just knew that something wasn't right."

"But then you started firing at us!" She defended.

_"Ehh... yeah..."_ he curled his lips awkwardly, _"We did, but y'all were pushing that bomb cart. _And it's my job to prevent that thing from reachin' End-Point." He explained.

He hummed to himself curiously, wondering of the cart's whereabouts now, "I wonder if your people pushed that cart to end-point." He asked.

She shrugged, "Who knows?" She paused, thinking about what would happen.

"... but... what if they did?"

Scout smirked, "Then the boss- I mean, _my boss,_ gets really mad at me and the guys, and when that happens, my paycheques get cut into the size of a damn bullet." He told her.

"Oh," Lena gave out a gloomy sigh at knowing how easily crossfire could be prevented.

"I guess it's our fault for invading your turf anyway, though I'm not too sure on how we even arrived here in the first place."

"Yeah... _how did you guys even get here?"_ He asked, "You look nothin' like I've ever seen before - seriously!"

She gave out a lighthearted giggle, _"Oh! Never seen a woman before?"_

His cheeks tinged a bit, "What? I've seen lots! But like-" he bit his lip, pausing as he planned out his sentence, _"... I've never seen them fancy weapons and that stuff that you have on."_

"Like what?" She gestured at her body with a gentle wave of her hand, _"Point it out, will you?"_

Scout prayed that his urge to touch her wouldn't suddenly show itself.

He pointed at the device on her chest, "That little glowing thing on your chest- I've never seen before. And your pistols don't even shoot out bullets, it-it shoots out weird _blue lines instead,_ and you can teleport, just like _*this*!"_ He snapped his finger, emphasizing the quickness. He then pointed at her hair, chuckling a bit, _"And I ain't never seen hair so wild before."_

Lena, despite countless denials of the negative opinions that others had on her hair, it always seemed to make her day a little less bright.

A small frown took on her face, "Oh... it's a style I've decided to sport because I wanna look different from the rest of the lot, not because I wanna look like a proud bush-head... _it doesn't look bad, does it?" _

He shook his head, "Nope."

A smile replaced her frown.

"I think your hair's actually kinda cool! And you wanna look different, which is cool too! That's why I always wear my hat everywhere I go- even when I'm sleeping, cause I know there's only gonna be one 'me' that will ever walk the streets of this world, so I gotta do it right!"

She was impressed at his self-confidence. It was contagious enough for her to compliment him on it.

_"Do you fancy yourself a 'one of a kind'?"_

"Yup. Ma always told me I was special."

_'You certainly are... in the good way too.'_ She thought to herself.

"How 'bout you?" He suddenly asked.

She gave him two thumbs up in return, _"Positive."_ There was a smile on her face that refused to go away. It must've been because of the happy vibe he gave off... or maybe it was the fact that he complimented on what so many others thought looked terrible on her.

Lena attempted to start another conversation with him.

_"Sooo... what do you wanna do?"_

Scout adjusted his hat and shrugged at her, "I dunno 'bout you, but all this talking makes me wanna talk some more..." he paused, _"... but only if you're down for it though."_

A sudden smile sprung up on her face, "Truly?" She asked.

He nodded, "Why not? Got nothing better to do."

"If that's the case, may I propose something?"

"Shoot."

"First, lets start off by putting away our weapons and whatnot," without waiting for his act, Lena opened her wrist holsters and dropped the pistols in her hand. She tossed it aside on the sand-surfaced ground.

She closed her wrist holsters, "That's better!" She looked at him, "Your turn."

The opportunity for Scout to turn his back on this conversation with Lena was nigh, as her weapons were quite the distance from her position while his weapons were just 5 to 6 steps away. He'd have plenty of time to dispatch her if needed...

_He thought about it... but he didn't have the heart to follow through with it._

_He couldn't displace her trust so carelessly._

_A bubbly girl like her didn't deserve that._

"... you know that my weapons ain't on me... right?" Scout told her.

Lena raised a brow, "Really? I could've sworn you had a pistol in your hands just a second ago."

He shook his head, "Must've saw something else, Lena," he held his hands up, "got nothing but white wraps on my hand and nasty bruises underneath." He put his hands down and turned towards the weapons that were knocked out of his grasp earlier.

"Don't know if you forgot, but you knocked the guns out of my hand when we was fighting earlier."

Lena followed his stare and let out a sigh of realization, _"Oh, silly me! I must've forgot about that whole scuffle!"_ She cleared her throat and put both hands on her hip, "I must say though - you do fight well, considering how barmy your equipment is to mine."

He chuckled at her, "Well, _duh!_ You have an annoying teleporter thing on your chest. I bet if you gave me that, I'd be the baddest, most raddest boy from Boston!"

"And I have no doubt that things would actually go _awry_ if I gave you my Chronal-Accelerator." Lena shot back annoyingly, "It's my job to prevent harm from happening in the first place, so there'd absolutely be no way of me handing you the device!"

"Would you let me try it if I caught you in a game of tag?"

Lena laughed at his request, _"Haha! No!_ Even if you did catch me - _which is really unlikely,"_ she added discreetly, "I wouldn't even allow you to _touch_ it! It's fragile tech."

Scout noticed her little mumble, and felt the need to take her up on it.

"Did you just say that I can't catch you in a game of tag?"

"Oh-!" She gasped and held a light hand over her mouth, _"I didn't stutter, did I?"_ She raised a brow challengingly at him, _"I hope I didn't."_

He shrugged at her, "Guess not. Cause I stutter all the time."

"Brilliant!" She blinked towards him and quickly swiped the hat off his head. She then placed back to her original position milliseconds after.

_"Wha-?!"_ He touched at his head for the hat that she took from him. He felt nothing but hair. He looked towards her, only to find her giggling with an innocent look on her face.

She held his hat by the tip of her finger, waving it in front of him.

_"I take it that this dashing hat is your's, luv'?"_

He smirked back at her, and felt a game of tag ensuing in the following moments.

"No. It's _Santa's._ Now give it back or else I'll take it from you." He challenged, taking slow steps towards her.

_"Ho! Ho! Ho!"_ She placed the hat on her head as if it was her's, smiling back at the owner of it.

_"I'd like to see you try!"_ Before running away, she blinked towards him one last time, and before he could even react, her hand met his cheek with a loud _slap._ With the use of her device, she quickly blinked away from him, giggling to herself — loud and incredibly annoying... _but so damn adorable._

Scout rubbed at his cheek and looked at the hysterical woman, "You're going down!" He said, unable to keep himself from smiling. "And I'm getting my hat back!"

Lena stuck her tongue out at him, "It's one thing to talk about it, and another to actually do so!" She giggled and blinked further away from him.

_"You can always give up if you want to!"_ She yelled out.

Scout wasn't raised to be a quitter though.

He started sprinting towards her teal figure, "You better run!"

**_x_**

The two played the classical game of tag for almost 10 minutes until they reached an impasse.

The play zone was limited to the fencing that closed off the basin from the endless badlands. It stretched to the rooftop that had a ventilation unit up top, and Lena was making full advantage of such terrain.

With the roof of all the large shipping containers providing easy access for her quick relocator, and a backup plan in her recall function, she'd be a hard woman to catch. Especially if Scout had to make use of his odd ability to double jump to and from container to container, edge to edge... and this wasn't even mentioning the fact that he had to wrap his arms around her in order to 'tag' her.

This was going to be difficult from the start, and Scout was just starting to feel the waining effects of it.

Lena stood proudly on the edge of a container, both hands on her hips, his hat still adorning her head full of hair.

_"Gettin' tired, luv'?"_ She asked him.

Scout shook his head and placed both of his hands on his knees with a bent stance.

_"I ain't tired..."_ he took a breath and looked at her across from the edge of the roof, _"Who said I'm tired?"_ He managed to ask her.

She rolled her eyes and giggled at him, "No one said you were tired, Scout! Do you know what that means?"

He shook his head, panting.

"It means you're tired!" She answered. "The brain can't think properly if the body's completely gassed, which leads me to the conclusion that you're out of it!"

Lena performed a cute twirl and sat down with her legs crossed, maintaining an upright stance while giving him a quirky smirk.

He smiled at the odd routine.

_"The hell was that?"_

"What's the problem?" She asked, "I'm just sitting down with my legs crossed. Cause honestly, you don't seem to be..." she clicked her teeth, _well, how can I say this without giving you a stamina spark..."_ she put a finger to her chin as she thought for the next words.

Scout kept his ears peeled for the word that was about to come out her mouth.

_"You don't seem to be very good at this game."_

He raised a brow and straightened himself.

_"**Really?**" _

Scout slowly back-pedalled, and in a quick motion, he sprung up and leaped away from the edge of the roof. As soon as he felt himself descending, he took another jump in mid-air towards her.

Lena was caught off guard by the quick move, but she still managed to blink away from him, creating precious space between herself and the boy.

Scout grabbed onto the ledge of the container, quickly pulling himself up and making a sprint for the lady.

Lena's plan backfired terribly. She just wanted to say something that would end the conversation between him and her, _not_ give him a full vat of energy to be used on her! She was caught off guard by how quick his legs were trodding towards her. She had no idea of what her next course of action was going to be, so she took a blind blink to her right, which would hopefully land her on the smaller roof across from the main one...

_... and she guessed right!_

She felt at the smooth ground beneath her and kept her eyes trained on him... _how was he so quick?!_ He was already jumping towards her!

_"Why weren't you this quick before?!"_ She yelled out. She dropped down from the roof and landed on the sandy ground.

Scout followed her trail with extreme precision, tracking her moves relentlessly.

"I wasn't trying!" He yelled back, safely landing on the ground as well. The bright teal particles were letting out an oblivious trail as she ran away from him, and he followed it with vigour. He heard 1 more zip, very close to his position, and this was when he went full speed.

He knew that her device would be on a cooldown every third time it was used... and he also knew about its recall feature. He'd keep an eye out for the recall.

He turned a corner around a container and spotted her making a straight dash for the fence. But, in the heat of the moment, he still had enough sense to figure out that she was up to something fishy. Why else would she be sprinting towards a dead end?

Scout saw it coming from a mile away.

_She was planning a recall._

He gave her extra motivation to run faster.

"I'm right behind ya, Lena!" He yelled out.

Suddenly, she turned into a phase of bright blue and disappeared entirely from his sight. Now was the time to outplay her recall.

Scout stopped on a dime and backtracked his steps as fast as he could. He turned the previous corner, only to see her and her surprised face.

The amount of shock that was on her face was satisfying for him to see.

_"Th-t- That's cheating!" _She complained, stuttering because of how quick he was to trace back to her position.

"No cheating, cupcake! All skill!" He said proudly.

Lena let out a quiet curse as her cooldown was now in effect. She backed up as he took his long strides toward her.

_1 step_

_2 steps_

_3 steps_

_He already closed the distance with her!_

Quickly, Scout lunged for her waist, connecting, and successfully tackling her down to the ground. Both Lena and Scout hit the ground with a grunt, but Lena was more expressive than him, uttering out bright words of defiance that were aimed against the boy. The bright vocabulary made him laugh. She was the last person he'd expect to hear such words from.

_"Ugh! That's impossible!"_ There was an angry smile that was on Lena's face - half of the reason being because she was 'tagged', and another half of the reason was because of the slim arms that were around her waist. She didn't even know if his arms were supposed to be that warm, but she quickly waved it off and figured that it must've been the warm sand that they were running around in.

Scout took his face out from the side of her waist to look down at the woman he pinned.

He chuckled at her, "What's wrong? Never been caught before?" His smile grew even larger at the amount of sand that was on her face, specifically on her cheeks. He unwrapped the arms he had around her waist and created some space between his waist and her's.

She scoffed and smiled back at him.

_"Of course I've been caught before silly!"_ She sighed, "I've just never been caught... like _'this',"_ she pointed at the device on her chest, _"I've never been tagged while wearing my chronal-accelerator..."_ her eyes travelled to meet his.

_"... you're the first one to do so, luv'."_ There was a rising feeling of youth sprouting throughout her system. She hasn't felt the thrill of a chase in such a long time because she was too fast for everyone!

... except for a young mercenary that she's happened upon.

Her eyes, being so close to his, were completely zeroed in it. It's said that the eyes were a gateway to a person's soul; a case which couldn't be anymore but _true_ at this moment, because she saw nothing but childish adolescence and the will to live _young_ when she was introduced to his teal pair of eyes.

_'Such an odd profession for a boy like **him** to have.'_ Lena thought, wishing that he could've gone down a different career.

Scout however, was currently experiencing a silent _crisis_ being this close to her.

The breath seemed to escape out of him as he was closely introduced to her eyes. Time seemed to slow down for him, allowing the opportunity to take in the gorgeous brightness of her brown eyes with his blues... the tiny speck of freckles underneath her barely noticeable eye-bags just made it all better. He then found his eyes travelling south of her face, down her smooth neck, to the collars of her dusty jacket... _and then her cleavage, which was barely noticeable, but still damn eye-catching..._

He was stuck staring until he caught himself and shook out of it. He let out a short laugh and looked someplace else - anywhere but her or her body.

"Maybe it's time to get off?" Lena asked softly, catching a slight glimpse of his cheeks - which she could've _sworn_ were flared red. She winced her eyes to see if he was truly blushing or not, but she was too late to spot anything significant.

_"Umm, y-yeah.. m-my bad..," _he cleared his throat and pushed himself off of her, extending a hand towards her hand, which she gladly took.

Lena dusted off her jacket and shook the sand out of her thick hair. She turned towards him with both hands on her hip, "You're quite the impressive runner, Scout." She told him. A smile appeared on his face.

"Thanks, I get that a lot... and uh..." he looked for a compliment to give her back, _"... you're uh... a pretty good... time-traveler?" _He asked with uncertainty.

Lena giggled at him.

"And you're a pretty good comedian!" She said with perfectly feigned sarcasm. She smiled at him and offered a handshake, _"Friends? _We can be friends, right? Or maybe best friends!"

Scout gave her a confused face, but still gave her a handshake in return.

_"Sure... but why?"_ He asked. He quickly added onto his question, "I-I mean, not that I _wouldn't_ wanna be your friend, cause you seem cool 'n all... but... you ain't staying long... are you?"

If she was going to dissapear as suddenly as she arrived, he found no use in keeping her as a friend... because friends were supposed to keep in contact with each other.

She shrugged, "Depends," she answered, "Again - I have _no idea_ as to how my team and I managed to wind up all the way here, but I'm certain that they have no idea on how to get back... so I may as well make some new friends while I'm stuck here... right?"

"Yeah. Makes sense."

"And besides," she threw a playful punch at his arm, _"you're a fun person to be around."_

He rubbed at his arm, _"Thanks."_

"Hold on-! I almost forgot," she reached for the hat that was still on her head, taking it off and presenting it to Scout, "here's your hat, luv'; a prize for the victor!"

He took his hat back, "Thanks..." he was about to put it on, but saw that she was still staring at it, _"... uh... you can keep it on if you wan-"_

"Was hoping you'd say that!" Lena snatched the hat in an instant, placing it on her head as if it was the most natural accessory to her.

Lena stretched out and blinked to the back of Scout, "How do I look with a hat like this on my head?" She asked.

He turned around to face her, only for her to blink back to her original position.

"Personally, I never enjoy wearing hats. It frizzles and scuffles my hair a ton! It's a complete nightmare for me!" A pause. "... but for your's, I'd make an exception, because I think it looks nice." She striked a pose for him; a thuggish, low-stanced pose, her hand adjusting the tip of his hat towards him.

_"How's it look?"_ She asked.

Scout thought that the pose looked terrible... _but she looked beautiful with his hat on._

He gave her two confident thumbs up, _"Looks cool." _

"Think so?"

He nodded.

"Have any other hats I could try on?"

"Nah. There all in my room."

Her eyes grew wide with excitement, almost _gasping_ out the words, _"You have rooms?! Where's yours?!" _

"Oh!" He chuckled, "It's _far_ from here. Ain't no way we makin' it on foot."

She groaned, _"Ughhh. Bummers!"_ She quietly cleared her throat and smiled at him, "... reason I was asking, anyways, was because it would've been much more civil to talk inside than out here — and I don't mean these barmy factory buildings around here — I mean actual, livable property."

If the situation was different, and if he was nearby the barracks, he would've **surely** took her in.

"Eh. Ain't too much choices with where we at right now. But if you wanna sit down and talk, we can find some places."

"Hm... well, if it were up to me, I'd say we'd do well to find a cool place of shade and talk amongst ourselves until the skies turn dark... _I mean, not talking to ourselves obviously, but more like to each other."_

He raised a brow, "Sounds cool... but ain't you worried about your team?"

"What for?" She quickly returned, "I know they're capable of taking care of themselves. All of them," she shook her head and laughed to herself, the following sentence sounding motivated, "No. I've had **enough** time to fight and tote with pistols in my hand. I'd rather sit down and talk like a normal person for once... so whaddya say?"

"Sit down and talk?" Scout asked, "Like... no moving or nothing? Just... sitting down?"

"Did I stutter?"

He shrugged, "Guess not."

_"Brilliant!"_ She quickly blinked away from him, yelling out the words _'Follow me!'_ as she kept going.

Scout took his time to follow her, mostly because he was trying to figure out just _what_ he could talk about with her. It sounded unbelievable, but he was actually _nervous_ to talk to her. Those eyes of her's clicked _something_ inside of him, and it made him all jittery as a result of it.

As a matter of fact, everything about her made him jittery and all _weird_ inside. Her gorgeous eyes, those adorable freckles, her long legs, her slim figure, her rounded rear, her cheery voice, her smile, her happy giggle... _and even her hair._

He found herself loving everything about her and it was further reinforced with her wearing his hat... she looked adorable.

He didn't know how, or _what_ to describe it as. He's been in this situation before with Miss Pauling, but this time it was different...

_She actually found his presence comforting._

**_x_**

Scout finally reached Lena, as well as the spot where she lead him to. It was the corner of a building where the shade was plenty. In front of the corner was a straight view of the basin's border fence and the endless land that remained behind it.

"Isn't it a nice spot?" She asked, already sitting down against the wall, "Woulda preferred a higher view, but sod it."

He agreed, "Ain't bad. Just get rid of the sand on the ground and this would be awesome."

"Oh, poof. Sadly, I don't have the powers, nor the _effort_ to remove sand from a spot..." she patted an open space to her right, "come, sit beside me already. It's been ages since I've had the chance to sit down and talk with a boy."

Scout's mouth dropped.

_"Wha-?"_

She widened her eyes in shock as she registered what just came out her mouth.

She quickly corrected herself, "_Er- I-I meant, 'someone'!"_ She corrected, giving out a nervous giggle shortly after, _"Yes — 'someone', because, I... uh... talk to plenty of boys- and even an ape believe it or not! Heh... it'd be odd if you were the first boy that I spoken a word to, wouldn't it?"_

Scout just gave her a simple nod in return, knowing that it was just a cover up for what she revealed earlier.

He was surprised, honestly. With a girl of her looks, he expected half of the world's population of men to be talking with her, or vice versa even. He sat down beside her, to her right specifically. Even her smell was amazing; not too strong on the senses. She smelled of mild strawberries and sweet vanilla...

_He could sit beside her for a long time if this was her natural fragrance._

"Scout, I've a question to ask." Lena suddenly said, deciding to kickstart the conversation.

"Shoot."

"Exactly _where_ are we?"

He kicked at the sand with the heel of his shoe. "We're in the middle of nowhere. We're in a friggin' desert."

"That I figured out already, except deserts usually don't have tall buildings and rail-tracks amongst the surface... so, where are we? You know, the name of the place?"

"Name of the place? Easy. We're in the badlands of New Mexico; some junky, hot land that these two dudes are fighting on about, but they ain't the ones doing the fighting, so they hired us to do it instead." Scout explained, "That answer your question?"

Lena raised a brow, realizing that something was suspicious about his explanation, "Hold on a sec-! _You said 'New Mexico',_ correct?"

He nodded, "I stutter a lot, but that time I ain't stutter... so yeah, we're in New Mexico... _why?_ You thought this wasn't?"

"No, no, not that... not that at all, it's just... _this doesn't look like the New Mexico I'm accustomed to-_ in fact-!" She facepalmed and groaned to herself, feeling _stupid_ as she hadn't asked him earlier.

_"What year are we in?"_ She asked with a nervous face.

"We're in 1968. And I think it's May... or April," he shrugged, "I dunno. But we're in 1968." He revealed.

Lena gasped at the sudden information.

_"1968?!"_ She exclaimed, almost not believing him for a second, "Are you sure, luv'? _**1968**?"_ She repeated. She didn't even wait for him to answer, "Goodness! That means I must be a dozen or so years from my own timeline!"

An awe-driven gasp left his mouth.

_"Woah! So like, you're from the future?"_ He asked, "I mean- I knew you was from the future, cause we don't got any tech like what you have on your chest, but still-! _You're from the future!"_ He cheered, "How many years?! A thousand? _Ten thousand?! A hundred thou-?!"_

She stopped him by silencing his lips with a finger of her's.

"Relax, luv'! No need to throw a fit."

Scout's lips quivered lightly against the lean finger that was exactly an _inch_ away from his lips. His stare zeroed in on the finger, then at her.

He nodded understandingly, _"Mhm."_ He muffled out.

"Smashing," Lena took her finger off his lips, "and to answer your question - _no,_ I am not a hundred _thousand_ years into the future... that's _insane_ to even contemplate."

"So what is it then?" Scout persisted.

"Well, let's see. It's 1968 where we currently are, and my buddy Winston was experimenting on the relocator in 2070 with a bunch of other people inside in the vicinity..." Lena put two and two together and came up with the answer.

"Oh blimey-! _I'm a century into the past!"_ She put a hand to her forehead, "I've been in a lot of sticky situations, but none as sticky as this! _To accidentally wind up 100 years in the past is phenomenal..."_ she turned to face him, curiosity springing from her, "what's it like living in the 1960's?" She asked him.

"Eh. It's cool-"

Lena interrupted him with a bombardment of questions.

"Are the cars flying? Do you have functional planes that can hover? Is the music as snazzy and jazzy as they mention it? _Do you have talking robots that are aware of their existence?!"_

Scout gave her a clueless stare in response.

_"... what?"_ He smiled cluelessly at her, "I dunno anything about flying cars, or-or _'hover-planes', OR EVEN TALKING ROBOTS!"_ He shook his head, "I don't think we have any of those in the sixties, Lena."

Scout could tell that his response bored her, as he saw with the slight droop of her eyes.

"But, we got music!" He exclaimed, giving her eyes some life, "The snazziest and the manliest music!" He continued on, "Elvis Presslee is one guy you 'oughta listen to before even getting up for the showers! And don't think I forgot about Tom Jones - _who I wanna get a tattoo of pretty soon._ He's a friggin' legend! Love his songs! _All of 'em!"_

Lena's mouth opened slightly, _"Oh, that's nice..."_ she cleared her throat, _"erm... if you don't mind me asking;_ where would you get the tattoo?"

He shrugged, "Eh. Somewhere around my chest... or maybe near my waist!"

The picture of him with a tattoo invaded her mind. In her opinion, he wouldn't fit a tattoo - even the smallest one! She fully believed that the age of his visual appearance would be at stake. He'd look _older_ with a tattoo, and his youth was a rarity, so she'd love to see him maintain such an attractive trait.

_... but, he wouldn't look bad with a tattoo. He'd still be pretty damn attractive... and she liked the idea of a tattoo near the waist... __she stopped her intimate thoughts._

"Is it a _must_ to get a tattoo?" Lena asked.

"I don't know, but all I know is that it ain't gonna look like crap once I finally get it, cause Tom Jones is such a friggin' legend- _anything about him looks awesome!"_

Lena's heard of these names before... especially Elvis Presslee. What she's read of the iconic artist left her impressed. There were very few who matched his musical resume, and to meet someone from the past that knew well of the iconic artist himself made her feel pretty fascinated.

"Ah. If I had my boombox with me, I'd show ya the tunes I listen to everyday, but it's way back inside my room."

"Well, that's a stick in the mud." She huffed out, "What do you old-world lot do for fun anyways?" She asked curiously, "I can start by telling you what I do for fun, but it may bore you pretty quickly."

"You think I mind?" He didn't wait for her answer. "Nope! Go ahead and talk. Besides, ya wanted to talk, so here's a cool chance to do it."

"Aww. How sweet of you, Scout. If that's the case, I'll start off by telling you that I begin my day with a fairly simple routine. I brush my teeth, wash my face, hop in the showers for twenty to thirty minutes then I proceed to do my hair once it's damp and easy to mold together. After all, with hair like this, maintenance gets crazy! So I must always make sure I can upkeep it."

"What's your hair like when it's not 'done'?" He asked curiously.

"You mean when absolutely _nothing_ is done with it? Straight out of the tub?"

He nodded.

She giggled and waved a thick strand of her hair back. "My hair, instead of being all up and about, stays _down_ instead, curling sharply at the ends when it dries up. It certainly has a lot less frazzle and dazzle when I do nothing with it."

"It probably doesn't look too bad."

And he was right. Lena found that she got the most compliments whenever her hair was in its natural, free-flowing form, which albeit wasn't as _wild_ and unique as her normal hairstyle that included the helping hand of hair products and careful styling, but it was more _'normal'_ looking...

_She didn't like 'normal'._

"You're spot on with that one, luv'. Many actually prefer that I let my hair the way it naturally is instead of having it done myself... but, _enough about me - what about you?"_

He was confused of her request. "My hair?"

"Could be your hair, could be your eyes, I don't know," she shrugged, "tell me something about yourself."

"Alright... what do you wanna know?"

"What do you do for fun when there's no work to be had?" She asked.

"Mm. Stuff." He answered plainly.

Lena groaned at his indirect answer.

_"... Like...?"_

"Eh... can't speak for the rest of my boys, but I run around for fun... umm, I read comics, I workout, I play baseball, and I shoot BLU boys for fun, but _only_ if I feel like breaking the rules."

"Which is...?"

He grinned, _"Almost everyday."_

"Fancy yourself a killer, huh?"

"Nah... or, wait- maybe! Or maybe I'm just a kid that wants to have some fun."

"That's an interesting way to have 'fun'," she air-quoted, "... anything else you do?"

He didn't know what else to say to her because that was all that he did on a weekly routine; he made sure to keep his body slim, he made sure to keep his baseball skills honed, and he made sure to keep his trigger finger occupied.

"I _think_ I do more stuff, but those are the first things that I can think of."

What else was there to do in the middle of nowhere?

Lena also wasn't surprised that he ran around for _'fun'._ Scout looked like an outdoors person to her, with the wraps around his wrist and the sneakers he wore. But, her curiosity was piqued when he mentioned that he worked out.

_And she was a curious girl. So what did he work out on?_

_"What do you work on?"_ She asked suddenly, "Any specific areas of your body you train?"

"Not much. Not really _good_ at lifting weights but I ain't bad either. I just make sure I keep myself light, cause I gotta move around quick. It's my job to not be hit by anything or anyone, y'know?"

She nodded understandingly, "And _how,_ do you keep yourself light?" She asked.

He shrugged, "I eat my veggies. Start the day off with an apple, then I go out for a quick jog, do some sit-ups, some crunches, eat another apple, then I go to sleep."

That must've been the most lacklustre routine that she's ever heard from him. She was expecting more rigorous work for the physical maintenance of his body. "... is that it?" She asked expectantly.

Scout didn't know what else to say.

"... huh. I also get a good workout in whenever I'm running to kill some BLU's, I play baseball and... _yeah."_ He shrugged, finally out of ideas.

"And all of this surely must've gave your body some tone, correct?"

"Yeah..."

He wanted to know _why_ she was asking.

"Your core must be well-developed then." She stated.

_"Core?"_ He questioned, not knowing what she was referring to.

"Oh. The core! _You know,"_ she made a circle around her abdomen, which his eyes were staring intently at, "the midsection of the body." She said.

He looked up at her face, "The abs?" He asked.

_"Yes. The abs."_

"Oh." His face tinged slightly, "y-y-yeah, it's.. umm... d-'_developed'."_ He struggled with the word so badly that it came out as a stutter and a mumble. _Why you asking?" _A question that he couldn't refuse to ask.

Lena's cheeks flushed at his question. She should've seen this question coming from a mile away, and she should've _known_ how to answer it without making it sound like a blatant lie as well, because really-

_She just wanted to see what he had beneath his t-shirt._

She blinked her eyes twice, "... because... I... want to determine..." she paused and looked at him, giggling as calmly as she could possibly sound with how flamed her cheeks were. _"Hehe. Just wanted to see if you- I MEAN- KNOW,"_ she urgently corrected herself, to which he raised a confused brow at.

_"... Just-_ wanted to know if you had any abs or not, that's it." She ended her sentence with a *tense* laugh.

_'I am such an **idiot!**'_ She thought to herself, wishing that she could slap herself for being so jittery in front of him. But, for some reason, despite already sounding like a nervous wreck in front of him, she still felt the need to talk.

"Of-of course, _y-you don't need to show proof, because I didn't ask for it- BUT, don't get it twisted, cause it wouldn't be a huge deal anyways..."_

Scout continued the sentence for her, "... if I showed you my abs?" He finished. He said it with little breath because of how dumbfounded he was by the optional request.

_"Yes."_ She squeaked out, mentally facepalming herself for walking right into the zone of awkwardness. Here she was, basically _asking_ if it was okay for him to show what he had beneath his t-shirt.

_How obvious did she have to be?_

Scout gave the request some thought. He himself was too rosy to notice how she was as well, and was thus forced to put thought into the decision; to show her his gloriously toned 6-pack, or to deny her the sight.

".. um... I guess I could show you it if you wanna see it," he awkwardly stood up and pulled the hem of his t-shirt up to his neck, revealing his toned core to the starry-eyed woman below.

Lena took back what she said about him getting a tattoo. He would've definitely fit the part if his shirt was _always_ going to be off. She was already memorizing his amazing figure. The way his abs lead down towards his upper crotch was tantalizing for her to see... his pants were sagging as well, which meant that she could see even _more_ of his danger zone.

Lena - despite wishing a different profession for the young mercenary - guessed that mercenary work did indeed have _some_ benefits for a man like him. One benefit being that he was rewarded a killer body that could've very well swayed her on the spot...

_Oh wait, it did._

And mercenary work kept him active... _very, active._

_She began to feel felt quite steamed after staring for so long._

"How's it look?" He asked. He got no response from her and this was when he decided to look at her himself... he was quite flattered to see that she was still staring at him, again, even more flattered to know that she didn't hear him.

He cleared his throat, _"Lena?"_

She let her agape jaw close as she looked up at him.

_"H-hi."_

Scout smirked at the astonishment that was on her face. It certainly gave him more confidence with her. He let his shirt fall back down to his waist and took a seat back down.

"How'd it look?"

She scoffed at his question. She thought it was rhetorical of him to be asking this, "Hmph! What do you think?"

He shrugged, "I guess it looked fine... not bad?"

_"Far from that, luv'. It looked amazing,_ and with that being said, keep doing whatever you're doing to maintain such a smashing figure."

He nodded, "Will do."

**_x_**

They sat down some more, passing the time by explaining what the other side of their respective era's held. The year that Lena came from, 2070, was a year when technology seemed to be reaching its crazy potential. Scout was especially interested when Lena mentioned that there were self aware humanlike A.I. that were a normal part of society. They were better referred to as 'Omnics'.

He was even more interested in the story she told about them.

Years ago, during her era, she apparently fought against a rogue group of Omnics. The 'Null Sector' was what her and her strike team called the rogue bots. They led a violent uprising in the city of London (Her hometown, which Scout assumed earlier) until it was put to an end by her and 3 other brave members of a peacekeeping organization; the organization she worked for — _'Overwatch'._

Scout was well enveloped in her tale so far.

_"Woah... so you really had to push a frickin' bomb-cart to waste those tin-cans?"_

She reminisced, "Err, sorta.." she grimaced, _"a lady like me can't ever be bothered to push payloads that are packed with heavy explosives._ I handed the responsibility to my other squad-mate instead; a tall chap with metal armour and a large hammer!"

"Oh. So if you weren't pushing the payload..."

She nodded, "You guessed it. I was scrapping Omnics instead!"

Scout couldn't help but stifle a chuckle as he was reminded of how _familiar_ she was sounding right now.

She reminded him of himself whenever he was tasked to push the cart. He hated doing it, because he always preferred using his gun instead of using his arms... _if that made sense._

Scout willed his chuckle away and remained silent for some seconds before speaking.

"You know, you kinda remind me of myself." Scout said.

"Oh really? How so?"

"Something that you said about not pushin' the cart made me wanna laugh, cause that's exactly how I feel about pushing a cart too. I like shooting things instead!" He stated.

"You and I must be twinsies then!" Lena exclaimed, a bright glint in her eyes as she said it.

He shrugged, "Who knows?"

Scout then stared straight at the endless land behind the fencing of the basin, thinking of what to do next with the lady beside him. He's already been talking with her for at least thirty minutes. With no comfortable seating around, his rear was starting to get sore...

_"... you wanna walk and talk?"_ He asked without looking, "Sky's getting pretty dark, and when it gets dark, winds get pretty cold."

Lena surprisingly found the position comfortable, but they have been talking for quite some time, and she disliked long seating sessions, especially when the weather was beginning to get awry.

"Walk and talk where? You mean around the area?" She asked.

"Ehh, something like that..." he stood up and stretched his back, offering a hand towards her once he was done. She took it without hesitation, and was quite easily lifted up.

She was as light as a feather.

Scout turned the corner of the building and gestured at Lena to follow him, "Just follow me, alright?"

Lena did so without a question. She felt like talking to him about _anything._

**_x_**

He lead her to a small intersection where the tracks that lead from the gate were now starting to lead to a lower ramp. Above the ramp was a small building with two windows and an unguarded set of stairs leading up to it.

On their way towards the ramp, Scout and Lena (especially Scout) spotted a slim figure in a red suit, leaned up against the corner of a metal garage door.

Scout narrowed a brow at the sight of his colleague. Even under the soft evening shade of the sky, he could still see that there was something _wrong_ with The Spy's stance, and his facial expression as well.

"Yo, Spy." Scout called out, stopping in his tracks. Lena followed suit as well.

The Frenchman glanced back at Scout and his partner, his posh, leaned stance apparently unaffected by the two.

_"Sometimes life is cruel... surprising, unfortunate... and in my case, **all three,**"_ The disgruntled Spy held a palm over his forehead as he stared at the ground. _"To be caught off my guard so carelessly... so recklessly, and to live with the embarrassment and the shame of being leapt on by an amateur of the trade of discretion-!"_ He cut his sentence short and looked back at the two individuals in front of him.

Spy cleared his throat and fixed his posture, adjusting his tie as he spoke to the two. _"But- I forget, my manners."_ He casually bowed to their presence. He went up to Scout and nodded at him.

"Bonjour, _perdant de Boston."_

Lena had no clue what the silky accent just said, but it seemed like Scout understood.

He looked grimly towards him, "How much times I 'oughta tell ya to stop calling me that?"

_"As many times until I feel the need to not, Jeremy."_

Scout let out a low growl at his real name being used by him.

Spy then glanced at the lady that was beside him.

_"Hm... and what might your name be, Madame?"_ His eyes traveled to the hat (which looked _very_ familiar) that was on top of her head, _"... and why is my colleague's hat on top of your head, if you don't mind my asking."_

"Oh," she giggled, "Well, first off — Name's Tracer!" She revealed with a cheery tone, "And as for your mate's hat, he allowed me to use it!"

A soft smile came from his face, giving Scout a teasing stare, _"How polite of him..."_ he looked back at her, _"Reason?"_

"No reason. I just asked, and he provided." She answered. She asked him a question in return, "What's your name anyways, luv'?"

Spy grinned, "A name that many had tried to know, but will never get the chance to."

She frowned, "Aww, bummers."

"Don't be so sad. All but _one_ know my name..." Spy grinned knowingly at Scout. Scout returned his grin with the flip of the bird. Spy returned his stare towards Lena, "But surely, _'Tracer',_ must not be your real name?" He said so as if it was a matter of fact.

"What if it was?"

Spy's eyes lowered at her, _"... then surely, I'd believe you."_ He then turned around and walked back to the corner he was leaning on, "Unfortunately, if you two have came to chat for a period of time - I must sadly note that I am _not_ in the mood."

"What happened?" Lena asked.

The Spy remained silent for some seconds before lifting up a cigarette that was drawn from his pockets. He took a quick drag of it and exhaled the smoke right back out.

_"... a moment that destroyed my pride and my want to be seen by any eyes."_

Immediately after, his figure cloaked until he was completely gone from sight. The action startled Lena as she instinctively grabbed onto Scout's arm.

_"Where'd he go?!"_ She cried out, hugging onto his arm.

"Somewhere to cry, I guess..." Scout looked down at her and was smiling at the fact that she was hooked to his arm. He wondered if she knew what she was doing...

And apparently, she did.

_"I'm not letting go of your arm until I feel confident that he's nowhere around."_ She said. She looked up at him, _"I have terrible memories of individuals that can dissapear at will, so please allow the inconvenience?" _

Scout's smile grew larger, "Don't even know what that word means, but it ain't a big deal. I'll let ya know when you can let go."

Lena smiled back at him, thankful that he was allowing her annoying grip. But little did she know, her grip wasn't an annoyance at all. He liked it very much.

**_x_**

Scout and Lena continued to walk down the tracks, passing under a horizontal structure, up a slight ramp, and reaching another curve, where a checkpoint of some sort could be seen. It was lit up with a blue glow.

... and she was still holding onto his arm.

Lena had some questions about the mysterious individual that she assumed was Scout's colleague, but most of it were simply shooed away by him.

"Why won't you talk about the man?" She asked him after five of her questions were denied.

"Cause I don't like him. He's a bozo." He said.

Lena's lips pouted at his response, disagreeing with him almost entirely,_ "Really?_ He seems nice though... if he hadn't so rudely dipped away from us, then he'd be a step closer to a natural gentleman."

"Don't be duped cause of that dapped up suit and that Frenchy fried accent. That no good snake is a friggin' demon in disguise, but he just hides it from everyone cause he knows it's true..." Scout paused and stopped walking, looking around for some seconds.

"... but at least he's a team player. Looks out for us while we look out for him. That's the only good thing I can say bout 'em," he raised his voice, "ya hear that, Spy? I said that's the _only good thing about ya!"_

He resumed walking and looked down at Lena, whispering, _"I know he's somewhere around here following me and you. He just won't show himself. That's why I was talking like that."_

They continued walking, finally reaching a sharp curve of a ramp that lead downwards to a messy area. The view above wasn't pretty either. The ground was littered with broken sentry parts and cracked rubble. In the middle of the area was a large crater that looked like it was caused by a large explosive, which must've meant that the cart was delivered successfully... _and RED was going to be at The Administrator's mercy._

Scout let out a curse at the sight, _"Ah, shit."_

He and his team failed the job. The Administrator wouldn't be happy about this. He could already _hear_ the discipline that was bound to come their way.

Lena looked up at him, "Oi! What's with the potty mouth?"

"Ah, s-sorry, I just..." he shook his head and lowered his shoulders with a sigh, _"one of your guys messed up the base."_

She gave him a brow, "What do you mean?"

"Someone delivered the cart, and my boss is gonna give me crap for it."

_"Oh,"_ she saw a small frown developing on his face. She didn't like seeing him sad. She felt the need to remove that frown quickly.

"Hey. Cheer up, luv'! It can't be the end of the world, can it?"

No response. In fact, that only seemed to worsen his frown.

She persisted, "A screw-up like this is like me failing a physical test because I ate ice cream just hours before!" She then heard a chuckle from him, which made her smile. She continued, "Sure, _I've failed it for now,_ but the next ones I'll pass- without a doubt!"

"I wish it was like that, Lena. But this ain't a test, this is the real job, and I didn't pass it." He smiled at her, "But, hey, thanks for trying to make me smile."

"But you are!" Lena laughed out.

His smile widened even more, _"Oh! I am!"_ He shared a good laugh with her and continued walking. As he walked along the metal balcony, he shook his head at the utter destruction that the payload left behind. He tried his best to ignore the consequences for this situation by choosing to instead focus on who he was with right now. And that was Lena; her presence was strong enough to take his mind off the negatives.

After some seconds of walking, they ended up near a door that was tucked in the far corner near some fencing.

Scout walked up to the vertical sliding door, which _should've_ opened automatically, but wasn't for some reason. He touched the bottom of the door with the tip of his shoe, trying to flick the mechanism up, but without no success.

"Huh. Weird. It should've been opened by now." Scout shrugged and turned around instead, observing the view from above as he leaned one arm on the bars.

"Starting to get dark... like, really dark." He said, noticing the sun's lack of shine.

She hugged onto his arm slightly harder than before, _"It is..."_ she stared at the destruction below, then at him... there was something strange about his eyes. He was staring at something, but she didn't know what, and he seemed unfocused as well. The smile on his face was nowhere to be seen, and his energetic posture was reduced to an unmotivated hunch.

"... do you ever get tired of this?" Lena suddenly asked, breaking the silence.

Scout lowered a brow, "You holding my arm?" He shook his head with a smile, "Nope. Why would I?"

It wasn't the answer that she was looking for, but she didn't mind it in the slightest... in fact, the answer was rather comforting for her to hear.

_"Heh. Not that, silly._ I meant as in 'this'," she gestured at the area below, _"you know... work..."_ she stared at him, _"... ever get tired of it?"_

There was a silence that followed the question. Scout's smile slowly disappeared as his eyes glued down to the destructive area below. Her question bounced around in his head, and has in fact _been_ bouncing inside his mind even before she asked him. The Spy asked him the same question, along with The Medic, The Sniper and The Engineer...

_Even he remembered asking the same question once he completed his twentieth job... __He was on Number 50 right now, and here he was, being asked the same question by yet another person that was most likely in the same profession as him._

Did he get tired of doing mercenary work?

Since Day 1, it's always been the same routine with either a little, or a moderate amount of plot twists. His life always being at stake, having to go through the dreadful 'Respawn' machine, having to experience the cold chill of nothingness for at least 10 minutes... _it gave him goosebumps to even think about it._ And right after the job was done, what was there to look forward to?

Him and his team were rarely allowed to visit their families back home. The only time they'd get in contact with the outside world was when a specific type of job required them to do so, but other than that, contact with the social world was completely extinct when working as a mercenary for RED.

Their homes were basically in dusty New Mexico, or wherever their work required them to be.

The pay was amazing... but at what cost? Was there a point to the money when it could barely be used? Was there a point to anything if no fun could be found in it?

Scout sometimes wondered how the older mercenaries, such as Engineer and Spy, managed to keep themselves in the business for so long. Both of them have been mercenaries of RED since he's been recruited, even before, when he was still a young kid.

_How did they handle this type of work for so long?_

Scout missed seeing his Mother on the daily. He missed being around family. He missed the daily stops by the greasy chicken joint he made every time he'd take a walk around Southie. But most of all, he missed his _Mother._

He missed hearing her advice for a 'happy' life, which included a job that paid, but still allowed a satisfying amount of free time. It also included a partner to settle down with, and children to watch and nurture until it was there time to return the favour.

Money, personal satisfaction, and love were the 3 things that Scout remembered his Mother enforcing to him and all his brothers.

He missed the lifestyle that reminded him about simpler times. He couldn't help but think about personal satisfaction when Lena asked him the question.

_Was he tired of this job?_

After a moment of dead silence, Scout took a deep breath and looked back at her, answering as genuinely as he could.

_"... I don't know, Lena."_ He answered.

Lena could tell that his answer came out troubled. He was unsure of whether or not he liked his profession. She wanted to help him make up his mind.

_"What are the positives to what you do?"_

"It's... fun, I guess."

She raised a brow, "The chances of _dying_ every time you work sounds 'fun' to you?" She questioned.

"No, no, I-I didn't mean it like that, I meant that it's fun when you're not _dead... _Know what I mean?"

"'Course I do. That's _exactly_ my mindset every time I'm out on an operation, but I don't let it ruin me. I care for my life extremely for which every moment I'm in the fray, because there's still so much stuff that I haven't done with my life that I would really like to experience..." she sighed, "it's a cost to pay when you're labelled as one of the prime protectors of society. The risk of losing the chance to do _anything_ you've ever wanted just to maintain the well-being of humanity and Omnics alike."

Scout couldn't relate, because he had a respawn machine that he could always fall back on, thus giving him an extra life after every death. He didn't have a true understanding of what it felt like for his life to _truly_ be on the line.

_"... what's the stuff you always wanted to do?"_ He asked.

"Oh, many things - travel the world, take crazy rides throughout London during night with someone as whacky as me, go on intense skydives with friends..." she sighed, _"and... it's gonna sound corny, but I do wanna eventually settle down and start a family of my own. Nothing too big. Two to three kids, lots of toys, and cute baby carriages, cause I've always dreamed about being a Mum at such a young age..."_ she paused, scoffed, and shook her head with a smile, "... but given my age of 27 years, I'd say that it's quite too late to start one, so I may as well focus on my current job..."

She quietly cleared her throat and gave him a side glance.

_"Have you ever-"_

"Thought about starting a family with a wife 'n some kids?" Scout finished for her.

She nodded, giving him a comfortable stare, "Yeah..."

"'Course I do. My Ma told me to have that as one of my goals... _Who doesn't think about it?"_ He said.

"People that are too old." She answered, a glum tone accompanying her voice because she categorized herself in that area. There was another pause. She broke the silence.

"How old are you anyways?" She asked, returning her view down below.

"I'm 23. Turning 24 in a couple of months. Can't wait." He said.

_"You're only 23?!"_ Lena blushed as he revealed his age. She thought that he was closer to the ages of 26 to 27, _certainly not 23._

He nodded, "Mhm. And you said you're 27?"

"Apparently so."

"And you think you're too old to start a family?"

Her head dropped slightly as her lips frowned, _"I hate to say it, but- yes. I think so."_

Scout, being raised a gentleman, offered her immediate comfort, which was shown through the use of his words.

"First things first, Lena- You _gotta_ get that belief right out ya head and and replace it with something better."

"Like what?" She asked.

He shrugged, "How 'bout starting off by believing that you ain't too old to start a family?"

"How, though? Given my situation too, I rarely have the time to concern myself with such a matter, and there's no use of me being a mother if I can't even find the time to take care of my family." She sighed as she exposed herself to the unfortunate truth about her profession.

Evil would always exist in the world. The fight against it would be a test of endurance; only the strongest would survive. Lena was determined as well, but was the thought of starting a family enough to sway her away from her ultimate goal?

_Thinking of all these complications made her forget one important step in the process..._

_Who would have the time for her?_

_Who could she trust to start a family?_

_"Bloody hell. Concerning myself with all these problems, yet I seem to be forgetting the most important part..."_ she laughed softly and rubbed at her temple with one hand, _"I don't even have someone that would vouch to be my husband..."_

Scout glanced at Lena. The amount of disbelief in his eyes was apparent.

_"You don't... you don't have a boyfriend?"_ He asked, with such little breath that it almost came out as a gasp.

She giggled, _"Oh, I wish..._ after going well for the first week or so, it always rots to the point where he leaves me cause he's found someone _better;_ someone that actually has _time_ for them."

_"What?"_ Scout found this irritating to listen to.

"I should've expected it. My work requires me to be away from people for some time... I should've been smarter. _I should've expected it."_ She repeated.

"I- I don't get it- _how could a guy leave you?"_ He stuttered, "You don't get it, Lena. You're amazing!"

Lena, incredulously, hung her jaw at him, _"... what?"_ Her heart also started to pump faster than normal.

Scout began to list off her qualities, "You're beautiful! You're funny, you're playful, you're caring, you're brave, you're-!" he cut himself off with a soft chuckle, unable to contain how he really felt about her. _"You're everything that a guy wants to come home to; Someone that can make 'em laugh, and even steal a hat away from 'em just so you can look better in it!"_

Lena blushed as an odd smile curled on her lips.

_"Lena, you're the gal that a guy would pray to keep."_ He whispered. _"Your age don't matter much when you have so much things underneath that makes you so friggin' special."_

Lena's heart was racing at his words.

_"Um- I... I-"_ the words got caught in her throat, an unexplainable feeling sprouting inside her, _"you... you really mean that?"_ She blinked and looked towards him, only to find him staring back.

_"All of it?"_

Scout nodded, "Yeah. Hundred percent. _Everything."_ He said, unable to break eye contact with her.

Lena found herself falling for the look that was in his eyes. It wasn't dangerous. It wasn't seductive... it was _joyful._ It was _loving... it was genuine._

She's been looking for a partner for so long. It's been years since she's had the pleasure of having someone to come home to right after a long day... she missed it terribly, and to have a partner that was so young and so genuine about her... _she found him hard to resist._

_It was a tempting offer, but it didn't matter because she'd take him anyday._

Lena laid a free hand against his chest, _"Scout... do you think... you and I? Is it meant-"_

_"Yes!"_ A captivating smile beamed across his face, "A hundred times - yes! Don't think I can say it enough, but _'yes'!"_ He cheered out.

"But- _will you have the time for me?"_ Lena asked.

"What do you mean?"

"B-because... I'm always out and about, and as you know, duty calls, and-"

"Of course I'll have time for you. I can be your couch, your bed and even the _floor_ if you can't make it to the bed because of how tired you are from saving the world's ass!"

Lena beamed back at him. The red on her cheeks was hot to the touch, and she could feel his heart beat through her fingers. His heart beat was almost in sync with her's.

She let out a relaxed sigh, _"That'd be lovely, Scout... goodness knows I need someone like you to be there for me after a long day."_

"Got that right! I can make you laugh without even trying." He pointed at her smile, "See? You're already laughing!"

_"No I'm not!"_ She laughed out.

"Yeah you are!" He laughed out.

The two were stuck in a fit of shared laughter, holding onto each other tightly. Scout's right arm was beginning to feel a bit numb, but that was to be expected because she's been holding onto it for so long. But other than one of his arm's being numb, he loved how close she was to him. She smelled _amazing,_ and her body was so warm under the evening breeze... _this felt perfect._

As soon as the laughter died down, Lena looked up at him.

_"Scout?"_

"'Sup?"

"You know what boggles me?"

"The fact that I can still feel my arm even with your tight arms around it?" He asked, said arm barely moving now that the blood flow was so congested by her constriction.

She snickered, hugging onto his arm tighter, _"Haha! _Yes, _that,_ but also, the fact that we almost _killed_ each other when we first met eyes with one another." She said. "I couldn't have ever expected such an outcome after that little skirmish we had earlier..."

"Yeah... I was waitin' you to shoot my whole face off when ya used that rewind thingy on me... It's a good thing you like talking, or else I woulda been one dead shmuck."

"I couldn't bring myself to rid of you so quickly."

"I think I know the reason for that."

Lena raised a brow, _"Really?"_

"Like ya said — _'You and me were meant to be!'"_

"But that was before you cut in-"

Scout shushed her with a soft finger of his, landing it vertically against her nervous lips, _"Shhh. Let's just say it happened so we can stop talking and start smiling like we oughta' be doing."_ He took his finger off her lips, and immediately, words followed.

_"I wanna kiss you."_ She blurted out. In fact, she's been wanting to kiss him ever since she spared him. He was simply too cute and much too young to get rid of. "Think of it as a start of something special?" She said to him.

He grinned at her, "Ain't nothing stopping you. Go for it..." he snickered, "never mind, _we'll both go for it."_

But suddenly, as soon as they leaned forward for each other's lips, the device on her chest began to pulse and emit light sparks of blue.

Scout took a startled step back from her, a spark of her device forcing him to step away. The grip that she's had around his arm for almost half an hour was finally broken.

_"Ow! What the-?"_ Scout looked back at her figure, only to find that the pulse of blue was growing more intense.

_"Lena?"_

Lena put her fingers around the straps of her chronal-accelerator, "No.. NO! This _can't_ be happening!" She struggled to take it off, and every time she pulled, the sparks would fluctuate more violently.

"What's happening?!" He ran towards her and tried to help her take the device off, but the sparks kept his hands at bay.

"It's recalling me back to base! I can't do _anything_ about it, I... _damn it!"_ She frowned furiously at her device. She took a step towards Scout, holding out her hand. He took it in an instant, despite the nearby electricity that was smacking at his wrists.

_"Scout?"_

_"The hell's happening?"_

_"Life... cruel, bloody life!"_ She yelled out. She hated her chronal-accelerator for doing this to her. There was finally a chance of her finding _someone_ she could come home to everyday, and in just one short moment - _All_ had to be shot down.

She hated this.

_"Scout! This is going to be the only moment I'll have with you-"_ the sparks on her device formed a small explosion, inflicting some damage to Scout, but not enough to make him step back. He winced at the spark, but still kept his focus on her. Half of her body appeared as a ghostlike blue, fading away into tiny particles of bright white.

The brown of her eyes were now a shade of desperation. Her tears were white, and almost virtual-coloured.

Lena, uncaring of the sparks emitting from her device, walked up to Scout and took a hold of his face. She fondled his cheeks, _"I hope I see you again." _She choked out.

Scout winced and gritted his teeth, but ultimately managed to ignore the pain from the sparks flying against his chest. He put both of his hands to Lena's face and in one short, but _blissful_ moment...

_They kissed._

Scout couldn't feel anything except for the pure sensation of Lena's gentle lips working against his. They fought against each other and kissed aggressively, both having to take a quick break in between kisses just to regain some breath. Her breath hitched at how nice his lips felt against her's. His kiss felt like paradise... _but it wasn't meant to last._

Scout closed his eyes tightly as he now began to feel the devastating damage of her sparks. He pulled out of the kiss hesitatingly before taking a step back from Lena's figure.

"The sparks are killin' me, Lena, I'm sorry!" He apologized, a disgruntled frown coming over his face.

Lena could now _feel_ herself recalling back to her original placement... _a century in the future._ _"Scout..."_ the hand she extended towards him started to fade away.

"Yeah?!"

_"We'll meet again... I'll find a way back to you!"_

Before Scout could even give her some parting words, her whole body dissapeared in a bright blue pulse, disorienting Scout. He held a forearm to his eyes and stumbled down towards the metal surface, wincing and squinting as he tried to regain his vision.

_"Ugh... Lena?"_ His ears rung for some seconds. He looked around for her, hoping that she really wasn't gone, but maybe displaced just a few metres away from him... he looked around, despite his ringing eyes and ears, but with no success, because she wasn't anywhere to be found so far. His search for the woman he's just recently met has brought him back to the same spot where they had fought, not even 3 hours ago. And all this searching was done with concussed ears and starry eyes.

Scout groaned and hit the sandy floor with an exhausted dive. He laid there uncaringly until his ears regained its normalcy.

The first thing he did once his ears could hear normally, was let out a disappointed groan.

_"She liked me too."_ Scout mumbled out, still unwilling to move from his laid out position.

He couldn't believe it.

He couldn't believe that the one that was most likely meant for him would just... _dissapear_ from him so suddenly. It was like a part of him got torn away when she was forced back to where she came from. And it hurt. _Badly._

He suddenly heard soft-footed steps advancing towards his position, but he was in too much of a problem to consider or pay mind to the sound.

_"Ah, mèrde."_

Scout casually flipped the finger at Spy without looking back, still facedown towards the sand. _"Go away."_ He mumbled.

The Spy waved the smoke away from face and crouched beside Scout.

_"A shame what happened to Madame Lena."_ He said. "Sometimes it is meant to be, and sometimes it is not. In your case however, _it was meant to be,_ but unforeseen events have caused it to a complete halt."

His sentence was responded by a very annoyed budge of his colleague's palm. It barely moved him, but he still took annoyance to it.

_"Go away!"_ He said, yelling this time. He wasn't in the mood to hear what anyone had to say about the woman that just dissapeared from him.

The Spy shook his head and stood up, walking away from the clearly disgruntled mercenary. "Remember, Jeremy. Time heals all wounds, even if emotional. You will find another." And with that, The Spy cloaked away from vision, off to roam the aftermath scene of the basin.

Scout still remained on the ground. He took a deep breath as he rolled over to face the night sky.

_"Lena..."_ a sigh escaped his mouth, _"god, I hope I can run into you again someday."_ His eyes came to a slow flutter. His chest gently pumped up and down. Soft breaths came out of his mouth, and he slept there, tired, disappointed... _but still hopeful,_ because he really did believe that he would run into her again, somewhere, someday...

Wherever or whenever that day might come, the first thing he undoubtedly was going to do was to take his hat back from her.

_He didn't feel the same without it._

**_X_**

**_X_**

**_X_**

**Simple metaphor for a simple ending.**

**Obviously, I ship these two, so the genre had to be romance!**

**Anyways, this took way too long for the goal I had in mind. I actually started this fic back in last year's AUGUST (2018 Summer), with the same idea in mind — 'What would Scout and Tracer do if she spared him?' I tried to be as realistic as possible with this fic, and logical too. It was tempting for me to write a scene where these two would just start *touching* each other out of nowhere, but I digress, because it wouldn't fit the mood of an intense battle.**

**Think of it as a girlfriend/boyfriend (depends on your gender) in the making; you talk to them, get to know them, slowly fall for them and BAM! Y'all are getting married, and maybe smashing _one_ time before getting engaged. A doomed friendship was the theme I was aiming for, expecting everything from something that wasn't meant to last, but desperately wanting to once it was close to its end.**

**NOW THAT THAT'S OUT THE WAY — I acc started writing this back in last year's August... but I've forgotten about it, but only started writing back on it because I realized 'Oh, it's almost been 1 year since the vid's came out!' **

**I like doing anniversary fics, and it was something I've been wanting to write ever since I saw the video! So I ended up with this!**

**Now that this fic's out the way, I can finally focus on something else... _no spoilers, but it's something that y'all BEEN wanting me to update :)_**

**_(Also, get at ya boi if you got Overwatch on PC. Finally bought one, and I'm kicking ass with Reaper. Holla at me if you want the works! My tag is 'ShizzySav16', run one_****_ up w me cuz I'm either tryna fuck y'all up, or fuck some shit up w you!)_**


	2. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

It was just another day, and another successful defence that was held against the waves of robots that were invading important territory of Mann Co.

Everyone played their role to peak expectations, and the Administrator couldn't have been more ecstatic.

_"Flawless_ victory, gentlemen!" The Administrator's voice soared throughout the air with such a profound effect on the mercenaries. All 9 of them were gathered just outside the upgrade station, and were ready to travel back to the main HQ of Mann Co for further debriefs on future defence against the robots.

Some mercenaries however, couldn't resist the urge to boost morale amongst each other.

"You heard the boss! We men have kicked their metal asses back to the factory! Kicked their asses so hard, that I bet you even _God_ would be proud of us cold killers!" The Soldier cheered out.

The Heavy marched inside the upgrade station as he patted away the oil off of his minigun, _"We cannot get comfortable, Soldier. Metal men have not been defeated yet."_ He said as he turned around.

"What?! _Impossible!_ The victory today had ensured our dominance over these metal bastards forever!"

Scout, and a few other mercenaries rolled their eyes as Heavy began to explain how one mission didn't mean the end of the long battle against the robots.

Scout gave a little nudge to the Engineer, trying to get his attention.

The Engineer smiled warmly at his colleague, "What's on your mind, moneybags?"

Scout smiled at the complimentary nickname that he was given. He was given that nickname because he had an odd knack for collecting the valuable parts of scrapped robots that Mann Co. still saw value in. Those parts allowed the mercenaries to upgrade their lethal arsenal into _deadly_ arsenal, and he had the whole team's praise for being such a thorough collector of said parts.

"Nothing much on my mind. Just gonna be gone for a bit." He told Engineer.

"Oh now hold on... why would you wanna up out of here and miss this?" Engineer asked, referring to the brain-dead conversation that Soldier was having with Heavy.

Scout snickered in response, _"Haha. Good one, Engie. I'm gonna be gone for a bit,"_ he began walking towards the battlefield, "tell whoever's in charge of the van to wait for me!" He said as he turned around and took off.

Engineer nodded, and grabbed a nearby seat so he could fully witness the exchange that Soldier and Heavy were having. It would prove to be good entertainment, he thought.

**_x_**

Scout and his team of ragtag mercenaries were deployed in Manhattan, located in the city of the baseball team he swore he'd hate for the rest of his life - _the Yankees._

He was from Boston after all. He loved the Red Sox to the death, and to show an inch of compassion towards the Yankees (the rivals of the Red Sox), he considered betrayal. So when The Administrator notified him and his team about the location of the mission, he was less than thrilled, because he already knew he wouldn't be performing at his peak efficiency.

Still, it proved to be well for them. No casualties reported, and he collected a good amount of spare parts from the dead robots that littered the ground... the only problem he had now was finding the pistol that he _always_ had holstered around his waist.

Many of his teammates, _especially Spy,_ urged him to upgrade to a newer, more lethal model of the pistol, but he refused to take their advice. Why he refused to upgrade to a better weapon, was because that specific pistol reminded him of a certain event that happened 3 years ago... in fact, it was the only physical reminder of an almost life-changing moment that happened to him 3 years ago.

Long story short; Scout finally had the chance to achieve true love with a woman he quickly wanted to marry. This woman was from the future, 100 years seperated from the past. Sadly, this odd bond wasn't meant to be, because in a quick instant, she disappeared from his timeline, and left him empty inside.

It's been 3 years since then.

During the first year since the encounter, he always remained hopeful of the woman's return. He made sure to repeat her name to himself at least 3 times a day so he wouldn't forget about her, and he made sure to keep a sharp eye out for a woman that sported advanced technology on her chest.

The second year, he still remained hopeful about her return, but time was slowly, surely getting its hold over him. With each day that passed, time urged him to move on from his hopes of a reunion with his dream woman.

The third year, which had reached its official milestone just 2 months ago - during the start of the robot invasion, marked a year of change for the ever-hopeful Scout. He was only 23, and still wildly naive and youthful about his beliefs in hope and determination. He was 27 now, and time slowly began to eat away at those two unique traits of his.

_She was right._

_Scout was getting tired of doing mercenary work... but he couldn't stop now, because this was all that he knew how to do._

This was his life for the next 10 years or so. He came to accept that once he no longer felt the need to keep contact with his family back home, which included his Mother and his brothers. He still did keep in contact with them, but not everyday like he used to formerly do.

Time was eating away at the individual who used to be so full of hope and bright qualities. The fact that she still hadn't returned only sped the process up further.

He was in the process of becoming a cold, efficient mercenary that was devoid of feelings... just like _him._

Like Father, like Son.

After rummaging around the battlements of the open-spaced factory, he finally happened upon his pistol.

"Finally found you." He picked up the weapon, which should've really been considered a memento instead of an actual firearm, because the last time he's used it was just over 2 years ago. Most of the times, he'd just forget it was even on him, but that didn't stop him from taking it everywhere he went.

He wondered how he lost it in the first place. Maybe it was the giant, ubered soldier bots that spewed their critical-infused rockets at his scurrying legs... or maybe it was the robotic versions of him that made a suicidal dive for their backlines.

The robot scouts gave him a lot of trouble, but so did those giant soldiers... he couldn't decide what gave him more trouble though.

Still, _he found his pistol,_ and now it was time to get back inside the team van for further debriefs; The same old routine that Scout would willingly follow because it's all that he knew how to do nowadays.

As he made his way up the ramp that lead to the grinder area, he heard a sharp, high-pitched _*zip*_ in the air. If the robots invasions weren't defeated for today, he'd figure that it was most likely a robot Engineer building a teleporter in a sneaky place behind his team... but that was impossible, because the Administrator herself confirmed that today's mission was a success, and she _never_ lied.

All the robots were either dead, or held off for another invasion... _so what could've caused that familiar sound?_

Scout didn't know the answer, but that didn't stop him from taking precautions. He holstered his pistol tightly around his waist, and pulled out his scattergun, cocking it.

_"Gotta find out what's making that sound."_ He mumbled to himself.

The open-spaced factory didn't have that many nooks or crannies for odd sounds to be hiding in. If it was inside the open space, then he'd scan it out rather quickly, so he assumed that the sound was coming from the grinders nearby.

Luckily, the grinder wasn't too loud when nothing was in between it, so this helped Scout in finding whatever was making that high-pitched sound.

Around the grinder were a stack of crates, boxes and piles of gravel, but to Scout's knowledge, none of those tended to emit _*zipping*_ sounds.

There was a little passageway that was formed under the crates and around the boxes. Scout decided to enter it. It was dim inside, and it was for the most part, a one-way exit with just 2 corners to peek from. Not that much space given. He guessed it was as good as a place for weird sounds to be coming from.

Scout peeked inside the enclosed space... and what awaited him inside was quite shocking. It was a floating _ball_ of some sort, transparent and teal in colour. It resembled an orb, but it wasn't as translucent as one.

_"What the..?"_ He kept himself at cautious distance with the small orb of transparent teal, but curiosity, and the fact that the colour reminded him of something important to him, drawed him in closer towards it.

He lowered his scattergun and lifted a hand towards the small orb, trying to graze it with his fingers. To his surprise, the orb flew away from him, and outside into the main battlements.

If it was a chase that this... _orb,_ was asking for, then it was a chase it was going to get!

Scout put away his scattergun and followed after the small transparent orb, pure curiosity forcing him to track it down. Luckily, it was a slow-moving target, so he tracked it down quite easily. The orb lead him towards the battle-ridden area of the factory, to the rusting catwalk above, and to the bridge that acted as the pathway for the mercenaries to walk across to the battlements.

The orb lead him back in view of his fellow mercenaries.

The Engineer noticed his presence, "You found whatever you was trying to find, Scout?" He asked, putting his guitar down near his side.

The other mercenaries that were around the Engineer then gave their attention to Scout.

"Answer the man, will ya? We were supposed to be out of here by 6'o clock, and it's almost 7!" The Sniper complained. His eyes then narrowed on something that looked unfamiliar to him.

_"Oi. What's that blue light doing there?"_

The Medic then spoke up, "I second ze Sniper. _Vat is zat?"_ He asked, pointing at the small orb of teal that was just in front of Scout.

Shortly after, the orb had the attention of all the mercenaries. The Pyro got close to it and ogled at its eye-catching appearance, mumbling happily and clapping its hands because of it. The Soldier tried to get close to it, but found it safe to maintain some distance with it. He pulled out his rocket launcher just in case. The Demoman looked back and forth at the bottle of scrumpy in his left hand, figuring that he must've been hallucinating again. But even he knew that he hadn't been drinking as nearly as much yet, so he was confused by the orb.

_"What is this tad light of blue doing here, lads?"_ The Demoman asked.

The Spy spoke up, though he was furthest from the orb, all of the mercenaries still managed to hear him.

"This orb of teal is most likely a phenomenon that is happening with our eyes... perhaps a hallucination that the robots have placed in the battlefield." The Spy assumed.

His assumption raised the awareness of every mercenary, excluding Pyro and Scout, who were now the closest ones to it.

"It ain't even doing anything, Spy. It's just... _floating_ around. I bet ya if the robots were up to this, then this thing would probably be trying to kill us right now!" The Scout complained, in disagreement of the guns and the weapons that were being pulled out because of the harmless orb.

_"Mmph Mmph!"_ The Pyro happily added in.

The Spy narrowed an eye at the Pyro's nature towards it.

"See?! Even Pyro ain't scared by the thing, so why are you guys freaking out?" Scout asked.

"I wanna ask why you're trying so hard to defend the bloody thing, Scout." The Sniper said, "The only reason we did so well today is we didn't take risks, and even if the missions over, that doesn't mean we should just let our guards down."

"Sniper man does have point." Heavy added.

The Demoman and The Soldier nodded in agreement.

"Now hold on just a minute, fellers," The Engineer spoke up, holding a hand up to emphasize his voice, "we may all be getting a bit too paranoid of this harmless little thing. I say we just wait it out and see what this thing wants to do with us."

_"Bloody hell- _wait it out?!" The Sniper sputtered. "Engie, it's almost nighttime! We ain't gonna catch any sleep on the road if we wait on this thing!"

"Correct me if I'm wrong, Sniper. But weren't you the one that wanted to keep an eye on it? Because after all, we don't wanna let our guards down." The Engineer said, wisely turning the Sniper's words back on him.

_"Fine. Thirty minutes - tops._ And we go back inside the van... crikey, I'll volunteer to drive too, since I can't trust any of you blokes to operate one." The Sniper said.

"Fine by me." Scout agreed. The group came to a collective decision to let Sniper drive the van back to base.

"And so we wait." The Spy said. He flicked his lighter and pulled out a cigarette. The rest of the mercenaries found a spot to wait and safely observe the mysterious floating orb... except for Pyro, who was still in complete _awe_ at the sight of it.

**_x ~ 7:41 P.M. ~ x_**

A little over 40 minutes have passed since the mercenaries have agreed to wait on the mysterious orb. They were waiting for it to either prove a threat, or of some benefit to them, but when it happened to be just more of a visual phenomenon than anything else, the mercenaries quickly considered ignoring it.

Especially Sniper.

"It's been over thirty minutes and I'm not convinced that watching Mr. Gas Mask dance around the bloody thing is gonna make me stay." Sniper complained. He stood up from the pile of gravel he's been laying on, _"Let's get out of here."_

"While ze spectrum of light certainly attracts attention, zere is more oddities to put attention towards to." The Medic said, subtly 1-upping the Sniper's wants to leave.

"Heavy agrees with both men. Want go back to base to smash more robot-men later." The Heavy said.

Everyone else, except Scout and Pyro agreed on making their way back towards the van to get dropped back off at Mann Co's HQ.

Scout simply remained seated against a crate with one leg stuck out, and Pyro remained sitting innocently nearby the orb.

"Scout?" The Engineer called out, "You coming with? Watching this orb is about as boring as watching paint dry."

Scout waved him off in response, _"Nah._ You guys can go ahead and get back. I can catch up later."

The Spy chuckled at him, "You may want to revise your decision, Scout. We are in the city of New York, and more than 3 miles away from headquarters... more than a day's drive away, and you insist on staying behind?"

Scout shrugged, unshaken by the distance that Spy had mentioned. He continued looking at the orb from his seated position. "Screw it. I run a mile everyday, and that's just a warmup. So go ahead. I can catch up."

The Spy rolled his eyes, _"Scout, you are an imbecile."_

Scout didn't react in any sort of way, which only caused Spy to sigh and walk away.

Scout seemed to be in his own zone as he observed the orb, because there was something about it that completely grasped his attention. He didn't know what it was that caused him to stare at it for so long. He was ignoring everything else that was happening around him. He didn't even notice The Engineer softly pulling The Pyro away from the orb. He didn't notice the yelling Heavy that was nearby him, and he didn't even notice the multiple mercenaries that were trying to get his attention.

It got so bad to the point where The Soldier pulled out his rocket launcher, but that chaotic idea of his was quickly shut down by the more sane Engineer.

The other 8 mercenaries then agreed, _quite loudly as well,_ that they were going to leave Scout behind with the floating orb.

And just like that, Scout was left alone to observe the orb in complete silence. He heard the casual hum of the sizeable van in the distance, but he didn't react in any way.

Instead, Scout kept his eyes, and his _mind,_ focused on that orb... this must've been special, because he rarely kept focused on anything.

**_x ~ 9:38 P.M. ~ x_**

Scout didn't even know what time it was, but if he had to take a smart guess, he'd say it was close to ten. The sun was nowhere to be seen, and the moon had already crept up into the skies. It was a clear night too. Clouds weren't in the way of blocking the moonlight, the wind was casual and provided a comforting breeze, and the atmosphere was warm and calm. Silent too.

This was a perfect night in Scout's opinion, not just because it _was,_ but also because of what this night reminded him of. It was nights like these where he was brought back in time to a moment that changed his life. A moment that made his whole body spark up with excitement and other feelings that he was unbeknownst to.

_"Lena... Lena... Lena..."_ he muttered to himself.

Scout almost forgot the woman's name. _Her_ name.

This night reminded him of her. That heart-racing kiss that didn't last long enough. It reminded him of her enticing smell and those attractive eyes... her short hair, her cute nose, her rosy cheeks, her cheery voice.

_He was glad he made the effort to remember her._

Scout sighed to himself as the same question ran across his mind.

_Did he get tired of mercenary work?_

_"I do."_ He answered to no one in particular. This caught him off guard. The fact that he was talking to himself concerned him a bit, but there really wasn't anything else to do besides that, and keep an eye on that odd orb that was still floating innocently on the paved bridge.

He then thought back to that specific moment 3 years ago... what he would've done if she hadn't disappeared from him. He's contemplated it so many times, but he didn't get tired of it.

Scout, after kissing her, would consider quitting, or maybe even getting a more casual, laid back job that still paid him good money. Hell, he wouldn't mind being a stay-in the house husband for her if she wanted him to. The amount of loyalty that he had towards her was truly genuine, and he even hoped that he would prove it further to her once he mustered the courage to ask for her hand in marriage.

Scout was considering marriage with the woman. He didn't know if that was the naive part in him thinking about it, or if that was his desperate side, but the more times he contemplated it, the less it became _stupid_ to think about.

He wished that she hadn't disappeared. He'd be happy if he had a family with her. It sure sounded a lot better than working endlessly for Mann Co.

After a while, Scout's eyes began to flutter.

_"Ugh..."_ he rubbed at his eyes and blinked three times, _"I ain't getting tired."_ Right after that, he yawned.

_"... okay, I guess I am..."_ he sighed and stood up. He walked towards the teal orb and smiled at it.

Scout almost laughed at himself for what he was about to do, but he did it anyways.

He rubbed the back of his neck, "You just remind me of... of a _girl_ that I wanted to marry... she had the most gorgeous eyes I eva' laid my eyes on. She had the cutest face that I ever seen. She had cheeks that were more rosey than the roses my Ma keeps inside of her room... _she had hair that was more wild than that Pyro fella' on my team,_ but hey... it didn't matter, cause I still really frickin' loved her." He coughed and blinked his eyes twice. A random tear dropped out from his eye.

_"That's why I ditched my ride outta this place..."_ his throat tightened, but he refused the urge to sob, _"... cause, you just... you just remind me of how badly I want her to come back."_ He groaned to himself and kicked away a pebble that was nearby, "Fuck!"

A large amount of anger then rose up inside of him.

_"I hate my job! I ain't doing anything but shooting and killing things all day! I can't even see my Ma, or my brothers anymore! I can't even live normally with these friggin' guys coming in and out my room like it ain't nothing!"_ He punched the air and exhaled slowly. He regulated his breaths and held a stressed hand to his hair. _"Lena was right. I'm getting tired of this friggin' job, but I can't do crap about it.."_

Scout turned towards the orb, and then laughed at himself with a tiny amount of tears around his eyes.

"Oh man... why am I complaining to you? You don't even exist." Scout said to the orb. He shook his head and smiled again.

_"... You just remind me of Lena, and how much I miss her.. and..."_ he shrugged as no more words came to mind, _"... crap. I__ want her to come back."_

Scout dipped his shoulders down and turned away from the orb. He made his way towards the defunct upgrade station. Surprisingly, the automatic doors still worked, and he let himself in.

The room was dimmed down, to the point where he almost couldn't see anything, but his eyes were adjusted to the dark after Medic did a few tinkering with him in one of his monthly check-ups.

He walked further into the room and looked at the assortment of weapons and items that were behind the glass.

A grenade launcher, a shotgun, a handful of grenades, smoke bombs and 3 cans of 'Bonk!'. There was also a medkit, multiple ammo packs, a machete, and lead, neatly organized in the assortment of weapons.

Seeing this only fatigued him even further of his profession. He forgot the amount of times he went through the pain of being blasted apart by a shotgun. He didn't care to remember the amount of times he's been blown to bits by a Demoman's grenade.

And frankly, he was tired of it.

As he stared at the collection with no objective in his monotonous mind, a bright blue _flash_ suddenly pierced the windows of the room.

_"What the hell-?"_ Scout quickly turned around to see what was happening behind the windows.

There was nothing but the view outside... _but what happened to the orb?_

It was gone.

Scout immediately went for the exit of the room and ran towards the bridge, trying to see where the orb might've disappeared to. He peaked over the sides of the bridge and checked around the nearby crates, but no luck.

Where was it?

Most people would abandon it anyways, just like his fellow mercenaries, but there was **something** about the orb that made him want to pursue it even further.

_"If I was a floating circle, where would I go?"_ Scout hummed to himself, in thought.

He was thinking so hard, that he failed to notice the tiny _*zip*_ that entered the air.

_"... where would I go if I was a circle... where would I-?"_

Another zip. Another odd sound. _Another trail for Scout to follow._

The sound was nearby. It sounded like it was right beside him, but there wasn't anything around! There was nothing but crates, ground, and a wide bridge. Scout was so confused, he didn't know what to do to track the sound because it was literally right beside him! The orb was gone too, so he didn't have anything _to_ follow, except for sound...

_But..._

_This all changed in an instant when a **portal** appeared out of thin air._

Scout blinked at the odd sight, but he didn't take a step back from it. In fact, he felt slightly... _comforted_ by the presence of it, because the portal reminded him of an ending to something that was special to him.

_Why was he comforted by something that reminded him of an ending, especially when it wasn't desired by him..._

_... because every ending had a new beginning._

A figure quickly emerged out of the portal, and just like that, the portal dissipated from sight.

Scout was quick to catch and hold onto the figure that emerged from the portal. His brain was in such a rush, that he didn't even acknowledge what... or _who_ he was holding against his chest.

He looked down and saw a familiar pair of eyes meet with his. The eyes were light brown in colour, wide, and starry. He even noticed the familiar freckles that were around the area of the eyes.

He stared at the figure longer until he caught sight of something else.

_It was his hat._

_"**Lena**?"_ He whispered breathlessly.

_She giggled in return._

_**The sound of her laugh made his heart pound with joy.**_

_"I told you I'd come back for you."_

**_X_**

**_X_**

**_X_**

**I think I did pretty well on this one :)**

**Only _simps_ won't understand the ending. Don't be one of those!**

**Sooo... with this chapter, I really made it a point to read everything before getting to the real ending, because in my opinion, the ending just means more when you know the full context of a short, rather quick finish to a chapter. It manages to hit harder when compared to just skim-reading all the way to the ending. **

**And idk. Just sorta a random update cuz I just felt like updating and completing this. And for some reason, I was in a mood to just write for 2 hours straight. Kinda cool that I can come up with this in that given amount of time.**


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